System, method, and computer-readable storage medium for telecom billing outsourcing

ABSTRACT

A system, method, and computer-readable storage medium for outsourcing telecom billing are disclosed for issuing one or more first billing statements and one or more second billing statements from a first telecom network; and transmitting at least the one or more first billing statements to a second telecom network. The one or more first billing statements may reflect one or more charges from the first telecom network to the second telecom network, and the one or more second billing statements may reflect one or more charges from the second telecom network to one or more customers thereof. The one or more charges of the first and second billing statements may reflect the same service(s).

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 13/692098,filed Dec. 3, 2012 Entitled SYSTEM, METHOD, AND COMPUTER-READABLESTORAGE MEDIUM FOR TELECOM BILLING OUTSOURCING. The entirety of theforegoing application is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to telecommunications networks, andmore particularly, to a system, method, and computer-readable storagemedium to operate and/or manage outsourced telecommunications billingfor use of such networks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the world of telecommunications, the interaction of a plurality oftelecom networks operated by more than one entity has become moreprevalent. Calls, texts, and other types of communications may bebetween different users in many countries, almost anywhere in the world,and provide both voice and data access for such users.

When a user initiates a communication or service that extends beyond hishome network (i.e., the network to which the user subscribes) to anadditional network, that additional network provides services byconnecting the communication (e.g., “bridging”, routing, etc. the call).Such services of the additional network benefit both the users involvedwith the call/communication and the home network of the user. The homenetwork benefits because its customers are able to engage incross-network communications, thereby making those customers satisfiedwith the functionality of their home network. Typically, those customersreceive one billing statement from their home network; the billingstatement lists those services provided by the home network and beyond(e.g., long distance calling, additional services provided by additionalnetwork(s), value added services, etc.)

In order to provide the aforementioned billing statements, the variousadditional networks (if used) must be capable of working with the homenetwork and sending the home network billing information (e.g., billingrates for the additional network, time increments for charges, accessfees, etc.). One manner in which this is typically accomplished is thatthe home network periodically communicates with additional network(s) toobtain up-to-date billing information for the respective network.Additionally, any network(s) providing services for the home network mayperiodically send a report of the provided services and related costs tothe home network. After receipt thereof, the home network may apply thecharges to the applicable billing statement(s).

Unfortunately, such periodic updating may involve variousinefficiencies, such as, but not limited to, untimely receipt of billingamendments, new contract rate(s), relevant charges in the currentbilling cycle; delaying charges on a billing statement or invoice;sending more than one invoice to reflect charges from different networksfor the same call; etc. Such inefficiencies lead to additional costs ofadministering such networks. For example, if an additional networkconnects a call from England to New York City, the additional networkmay charge ten dollars U.S. total. However, the additional network maynot report the ten dollar charge for the call to the home network untilafter the home network sends a billing statement listing that call andthe related charges to the customer. As such, a customer may be chargedadditionally for a phone call after already paying a previous billingstatement or invoice for that same call (i.e., the customer thinks theypaid for that service in full when they may have not). Alternatively,the home network may try to avoid confusion from the aforementionedscenario by delaying any charges to the customer for the call until itreceives some type of billing information from the additional network(s)involved with the call. As a result, the home network may not receivepayment from the customer for its provided services within the normallycontracted timeline, thereby leading to the aforementionedinefficiencies. As such, there is a need in the art to prevent imperfectcommunication between networks, additional administration costs, etc.

In view of the above, it would be desirable to provide a system, method,and computer-readable storage medium that permits the outsourcing oftelecom billing and other administrative services, so that a networkservicing or interfacing with a second network can provide billing andother administrative services to said second network. It would also bedesirable for a telecom wholesale provider to be able to provide billingand other administrative services to another telecom provider to whichthe wholesale provider provides services. Additionally, whether or notany network provides telecom services to another network, outsourcing byone telecom provider of its administrative and billing functions toanother entity is often desirable for business reasons.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with one or more embodiments of the present invention, asystem, method, and computer-readable storage medium of outsourcingtelecommunications billing are provided to issue first and secondbilling statements within one network, and transmit the first and/orsecond billing statements to a second network from the first network.The second network may then forward the second billing statement(s) toits customer(s) where applicable. Because one network (rather than bothnetworks) is generating and/or issuing billing statements for servicesin which it is involved with the additional network, the additionalnetwork does not have to re-generate or re-issue invoices for those sameservices. With such an outsourcing arrangement, the additional networksaves on administration costs by avoiding the production of invoices(also referred to as “billing statements”) for any services in which thefirst network is involved. Thus, the present invention of the instantapplication allows for cost reduction associated with outsourcingtelecom billing, and provides for efficient use of administrationresources (e.g., manpower, computer power, paper on which invoices areprinted, telecommunications or mailing charges involved with sendinginvoice(s) to the customer(s), etc.).

In accordance with one or more embodiments of the present invention, thesystem for outsourcing telecom billing includes: a first processor and asecond processor, the first processor operating to: issue one or morefirst billing statements and one or more second billing statements; andtransmit at least the one or more first billing statements to the secondprocessor, wherein: the one or more first billing statements reflect oneor more charges from a first telecom network to a second telecomnetwork; the one or more second billing statements reflect one or morecharges from the second telecom network to one or more customersthereof; and the one or more charges of the first and second billingstatements reflect at least one same service. The charges of the firstbilling statements may reflect one or more services provided by thefirst telecom network for the second telecom network. The charges of thesecond billing statements may reflect services provided by the secondtelecom network for its one or more customers.

The first and second telecom networks may be separated by at least onefirewall. The at least one firewall may include at least one of: agateway; a router; a network node that operates to interface withanother network using one or more different protocols; one or moreswitches; a bridge; a proxy server; a packet filter; one or moreapplication layers; at least one Egress filter; at least one Ingressfilter; one or more network address translators (“NATs”); etc. Thesystem may further include one or more means for: (i) receiving the oneor more first billing statements and the one or more second billingstatements from outside of the firewall; (ii) forwarding the one or moresecond billing statements to the one or more customers; and (iii) notforwarding the one or more first billing statements to the one or morecustomers.

Alternatively or additionally, the charges of the one or more firstbilling statements may reflect one or more services provided by thefirst telecom network for the second telecom network. The charges of theone or more second billing statements may reflect the services providedby the first telecom network on behalf of the second telecom network forthe customers of the second telecom network.

At least one information field on the first and second billingstatements for the at least one same service may be customizable. Inparticular, the information field(s) on the first and second billingstatements may be different from each other. The at least oneinformation field may include: the charges; a language; a currency; aprovider of the first and second telecom networks; a billing increment;contact information of the first and second telecom network providers;an invoice number; a call statistic; a call destination; a call origin;a call route; customer information (e.g., a customer name, customerphone number, email, fax number, etc.); a budget forecast; etc.

The first telecom network may include the first processor, and thesecond telecom network may include the second processor. The firstprocessor may operate to transmit the one or more second billingstatements to the second processor, and/or the second processor mayoperate to transmit the one or more second billing statements to the oneor more customers of the second network.

At least one of the first and second processors may operate to populatea database record associated with a call with two originating customers.The first originating customer may include a network from which the calloriginates, and the second originating customer may include a customerof the network originating the call. The network originating the callmay include the second telecom network; and the second originatingcustomer may include a customer of the second telecom network. Thesystem may include a record database for storage of the databaserecord(s). The first processor may utilize the database record togenerate and/or issue: (i) the one or more first billing statements forthe first originating customer; and (ii) the one or more second billingstatements for the second originating customer.

The customers of the second telecom network may connect directly to thefirst telecom network (e.g., as opposed to connecting indirectly throughthe second telecom network, etc.).

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the methodof outsourcing telecommunications billing includes: issuing one or morefirst billing statements and one or more second billing statements witha first telecom network; and transmitting at least the one or more firstbilling statements from the first telecom network to a second telecomnetwork, wherein: the one or more first billing statements reflect oneor more charges from the first telecom network to the second telecomnetwork; the one or more second billing statements reflect one or morecharges from the second telecom network to one or more customersthereof; and the one or more charges of the first and second billingstatements reflect at least one same service. The method may furtherinclude: transmitting the one or more second billing statements to thesecond telecom network; and transmitting the one or more second billingstatements to the one or more customers from the second telecom network.

The method may further include generating at least one differentinformation field on the one or more first and second billing statementsfor the at least one same service. The at least one differentinformation field may include: the charges; a language; a currency; aprovider of the first and second telecom networks; a billing increment;contact information of the first and second telecom network providers;an invoice number; a call statistic; a call destination; a call origin;a call route; customer information (e.g., a customer name, customerphone number, email, fax number, etc.); and a budget forecast.

The method may further include: reflecting one or more services providedby the first telecom network for the second telecom network in the oneor more charges of the one or more first billing statements; andreflecting one or more services provided by the second telecom networkfor the one or more customers thereof in the one or more charges of theone or more second billing statements.

Alternatively or additionally, the method may include: reflecting one ormore services provided by the first telecom network for the secondtelecom network in the one or more charges of the one or more firstbilling statements; and reflecting one or more services provided by thefirst telecom network on behalf of the second telecom network for theone or more customers in the one or more charges of the one or moresecond billing statements. Thus, the method may include connecting thecustomers of the second telecom network directly to the first telecomnetwork.

The method may include separating the first and second telecom networksby at least one firewall. The at least one firewall may include at leastone of: a gateway; a router; a network node that operates to interfacewith another network using one or more different protocols; a switch; abridge; a proxy server; a packet filter; one or more application layers;at least one Egress filter; at least one Ingress filter; and one or morenetwork address translators (“NATs”). The method may include: receivingthe one or more first billing statements and the one or more secondbilling statements from outside of the firewall; forwarding the one ormore second billing statements to the one or more customers; and notforwarding the one or more first billing statements to the one or morecustomers.

The method may further include populating a database record associatedwith a call with two originating customers. The first originatingcustomer may include a network from which the call originates, and hesecond originating customer may include a customer of the networkoriginating the call. In at least one embodiment, the networkoriginating the call may include the second telecom network; and thesecond originating customer may include a customer of the second telecomnetwork. The method may further utilize the database record to generateand/or issue: (i) the one or more first billing statements for the firstoriginating customer; and (ii) the one or more second billing statementsfor the second originating customer.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, thecomputer-readable storage medium for telecom billing outsourcingcontains software code operating to cause one or more of a plurality ofprocessors to perform the steps, including: issuing one or more firstbilling statements and one or more second billing statements from afirst telecom network; and transmitting at least the one or more firstbilling statements to a second telecom network, wherein: the one or morefirst billing statements reflect one or more charges from the firsttelecom network to the second telecom network; the one or more secondbilling statements reflect one or more charges from the second telecomnetwork to one or more customers thereof; and the one or more charges ofthe first and second billing statements reflect at least one sameservice.

The present invention of the instant application allows for the firsttime the outsourcing of telecom billing from one network to anothernetwork involved in the services provided, thereby saving onbilling-related administration costs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For the purposes of illustrating the various aspects of the invention,wherein like numerals indicate like elements, there are shown in thedrawings simplified forms that may be employed, it being understood,however, that the invention is not limited by or to the precisearrangements and instrumentalities shown, but rather only by the claims.To assist those of ordinary skill in the relevant art in making andusing the subject matter hereof, reference is made to the appendeddrawings and figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a system for outsourcing telecom billingin accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a method of outsourcing telecom billing foruse with a plurality of telecom networks in accordance with at least oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a system involving more than one firewallto separate at least two telecom networks in accordance with at leastone embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 4A-4C are schematic views of at least one type of firewallarrangement separating at least two telecom networks in accordance withat least one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method of outsourcing telecom billingillustrating how a network and the customers of that network may be atleast two customers of a network generating the billing statements inaccordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view illustrating viewable content depending onthe role of the viewing party in accordance with at least one embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a front view of a billing statement or invoice in accordancewith at least one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a front view of one or more database records in accordancewith at least one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

A system, method, and computer-readable storage medium are disclosedherein for outsourcing telecommunications billing. The system, method,and computer-readable storage medium may involve a plurality of telecomnetworks and one or more customers thereof, and in particular, mayinvolve one of the plurality of networks generating and/or issuing firstand second billing statements for services provided between theplurality of telecom networks and customers of a chosen network (e.g.,an adjacent network, a network from which a call is originating, etc.).With such an outsourcing arrangement, the additional network saves onthe aforementioned administration costs/resources by avoiding theproduction of invoices or billing statements for such services. Theadditional network also is able to provide complete and accuratereporting for decision and deal makings, for customer service, fornetwork engineering, etc. Furthermore, the additional network may beable to process detailed records faster than if two separate networkshandled two separate billing systems for the same service(s) beingbilled.

Turning now to the details of the drawings, FIG. 2 is a flow diagram ofa method of outsourcing telecom billing in accordance with at least oneaspect of the present invention. The method includes: issuing one ormore first billing statements and one or more second billing statementswith a first telecom network (step 102); and transmitting at least theone or more first billing statements from the first telecom network to asecond telecom network (step 104). The one or more first billingstatements may reflect one or more charges from the first telecomnetwork to the second telecom network; the one or more second billingstatements may reflect one or more charges from the second telecomnetwork to one or more customers thereof; and the one or more charges ofthe first and second billing statements may reflect at least one sameservice.

The method may further include: transmitting the second billingstatements to the second telecom network; and transmitting the secondbilling statements to the customers from the second telecom network. Themethod may further include: reflecting services provided by the firsttelecom network for the second telecom network in the charges of thefirst billing statements; and reflecting services provided by the secondtelecom network for the customers thereof in the charges of the secondbilling statements.

Alternatively or additionally, the method may include: reflectingservices provided by the first telecom network for the second telecomnetwork in the charges of the first billing statements; and reflectingservices provided by the first telecom network on behalf of the secondtelecom network for the customers in the charges of the second billingstatements. Thus, the method may include connecting the customers of thesecond telecom network directly to the first telecom network.

The method may include separating the first and second telecom networksby at least one firewall. The at least one firewall may include at leastone of: a gateway; a router; a network node that operates to interfacewith another network using one or more different protocols; one or moreswitches; a bridge; a proxy server; a packet filter; one or moreapplication layers; at least one Egress filter; at least one Ingressfilter; and one or more network address translators (“NATs”). The methodmay include: receiving the first billing statements and the secondbilling statements from outside of the firewall; forwarding the secondbilling statements to the customers; and not forwarding the firstbilling statements to the customers.

Although the methods disclosed herein may be employed with additionalmethod steps and telecom billing outsourcing system(s) as describedbelow, those skilled in the art will recognize that the methods foroutsourcing telecom billing may be employed with alternative embodimentsof telecom systems.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a system for processing telecom billingoutsourcing 1 in accordance with at least another aspect of the presentinvention. The system 1 includes a first processor (also may be referredto as a “computer”) 3 and a second processor (also may be referred to asa “computer”) 5. Preferably, the first processor 3 is located within afirst telecom network 2, and the second processor 5 is located within asecond telecom network 6. The first processor 3 operates to issue one ormore first billing statements and one or more second billing statements;and transmit at least the first billing statements to the secondprocessor 5 (e.g., over communication links 8 a and 9, through afirewall 4, etc.). The first processor 3 may also transfer the secondbilling statements to the second processor 5, and the second processor 5may further transfer or transmit the second billing statements to one ormore customers (e.g., customers 7 a, 7 b, 7 c) of the second telecomnetwork 6.

The first billing statements (e.g., invoice 80 as illustrated in FIG. 8and discussed further below) reflect one or more charges from the firsttelecom network 2 to the second telecom network 6. For example, thesecond processor 5 of the second network 6 may outsource the billingadministration responsibilities (e.g., generating invoices to bill thecustomers of the second network 6) to the first processor 3 of the firstnetwork 2. As such, charges are owed from the second network 6 to thefirst network 2 for any outsourced billing services rendered. To performits billing responsibilities, the first network 2 issues the secondbilling statements, which reflect charges from the second telecomnetwork 6 to one or more customers 7 a, 7 b, and 7 c of the secondnetwork 6. Because the first and second statements or invoices areissued in response to one or more services provided in a predeterminedinterval (e.g., a billing cycle, etc.), both sets of statements reflectat least one same service (i.e., one statement reflects the relationshipbetween the first and second networks 2 and 6 for a rendered service,and the other statement reflects the relationship between the secondnetwork 6 and its customers 7 a, 7 b, and 7 c for the same renderedservice).

Because different rates for one or more services may exist between thefirst and second telecom networks 2 and 6 and between the second telecomnetwork 6 and its customers 7 a, 7 b, and 7 c (e.g., due to differentcontracted rates, access fees, etc.), the first and second billingstatements may list different charges for the same service(s) providedby the first and/or second telecom networks 2 and 6. For example, ifcustomer 7 a is located in London, England and initiates a phone call toNew York City, the system 1 sends the call over the second network 6(e.g., via communication links 11 a and 10). However, because the secondnetwork 6 may only cover the geographic area of the United Kingdom, thesecond network 6 (e.g., due to a forwarding command initiated byprocessor 5) may forward the call (e.g., over communication links 8 aand 9, through a firewall 4, etc.) to the first network 2 to reach thephone call destination/recipient in New York City. Similarly, the othercustomers 7 b and 7 c of the second network 6 may connect to the secondnetwork 6 via communication links 11 b and 11 c, respectively.

Alternatively or additionally, the second billing statements may reflecta charge for a service provided by the first network 2 on behalf of thesecond network 6 for the customers 7 a, 7 b, and/or 7 c. For example, acustomer 7 c may not use link 11 c to connect indirectly to the firstnetwork 2, and may instead connect directly to the first network 2(e.g., over communication links 12 and 8 b, through firewall 4, etc.)when the second network 6 may need to redirect traffic (e.g., due to abottle neck or excessive traffic in network 6, due to all linesconnecting to second network 6 being busy, due to maintenance, etc.).For example, communication link 12 may be available due to theaforementioned agreement between the first and second networks 2 and 6.As such, the customer 7 c may not use the second network 6 for aparticular phone call. However, because customer 7 c is recognized as acustomer of the second network 6, the first network 2 is responsible,due to the aforementioned agreement, for generating a billing statementor invoice on behalf of the second network 6 to the customer 7 c. Thus,although the customer 7 c does not use the second network 6, the invoicethat the customer 7 c receives may still appear as if it originated fromthe second network 6.

The first and second telecom networks 2 and 6 may be separated by atleast one firewall. As best seen in FIG. 1, the first and second telecomnetworks 2 and 6 may be separated by one firewall 4. Alternatively oradditionally, as shown in FIG. 3, a first telecom network 307 and asecond telecom network 305 may be separated by two firewalls 302 a and302 b with an extranet 306 therebetween. The first telecom network 307may include a billing system 314 (which may be responsible foroutsourced telecom billing as discussed above), web applications foractive directory (“AD”) authentication 316 and for local authentication317, and a means for producing the AD 315. The second telecom network305 may include a Call Detail Record (also referred to as “CDR”)application 303, and a user 301 of the second telecom network 305 mayneed to connect to the first telecom network 307. However, to obtainaccess to the first telecom network 307, the user 301 may have to obtainauthorization via the extranet 306. The extranet 306 may include asecure file transfer application store 304 a for transmission of billsbetween networks 305 and 307 and a secure file transfer user store 304 bfor referencing when a user 301 tries to access the first network 307.For example, user 301 may submit identification information via a secureprotocol (e.g., via hypertext transfer protocol secure or “https”) thatpasses through the first firewall 302 a to a virtual private network(also referred to as “VPN”) (e.g., secure sockets layer VPN or “SSLVPN”, etc.) or independent computing architecture (“ICA”) proxy 308. Theinformation may be passed from the VPN or ICA proxy 308 to a webinterface 311, which forwards the information to a web server 312 havinga password manager 313. The server 312 may compare the informationprovided to information in the user store 304 b and/or in an activedirectory integrated location 309 or dedicated active directory location310. The password manager 313 may authenticate the user 301 bycommunicating with the active directory authentication web application316 and the local authentication web application 317 through the secondfirewall 302 b.

The at least one firewall 4, 302 a, 302 b may include at least one of: agateway; a router; a network node that operates to interface withanother network using one or more different protocols; one or moreswitches; a bridge; a proxy server; a packet filter; one or moreapplication layers; at least one Egress filter; at least one Ingressfilter; one or more network address translators (“NATs”); etc. As shownin FIGS. 4A-4C, various inbound and outbound firewall devices may beemployed depending on the architecture involved. For example as shown inFIG. 4A, egress filtering (i.e., filtering information outbound from onenetwork to another) may occur when a customer (e.g., customers 7 a, 7 b,7 c, etc.) tries to connect to a first network 403 indirectly from asecond network 400 via two switches 401 and 402 of a firewall 404 of thefirst network 403. As seen in FIG. 4B, egress filtering may occur when acustomer 405 of a second network tries to connect to a first network 408directly through two switches 406 and 407 of a firewall 409 of the firstnetwork 408. Alternatively or additionally, as seen in FIG. 4C, ingressfiltering (e.g., filtering information inbound from one network toanother; verifying the source of one or more incoming packets, etc.) mayoccur when a first network's customer 410 tries to connect to a secondnetwork 413 through two switches 411 and 412 of a firewall 414 of thefirst network.

The system 1 may further include one or more means (e.g., processors 3and 5, switches 401 and 402, switches 406 and 407, switches 411 and 412,etc.) for: (i) receiving the one or more first billing statements andthe one or more second billing statements from outside of the firewall4; (ii) forwarding the one or more second billing statements to the oneor more customers 7 a, 7 b, 7 c; and (iii) not forwarding the one ormore first billing statements to the one or more customers 7 a, 7 b, 7c.

To efficiently handle and track the services provided, the first network2 may process traffic of the second network 6 in such a manner whereeach call may be assigned to two originating customers: (i) the firstoriginating customer may include a network from which the calloriginates (e.g., the second telecom network 6); and (ii) the secondoriginating customer may include a customer of the network originatingthe call (e.g., customers 7 a, 7 b, 7 c of the second telecom network 6,etc.). This assignment may permit the processor 3 of the first network 2to monitor and report traffic per customer and charges based oncontracted rates between the first and second originating customers.FIG. 5 illustrates a flow diagram of such handling, which includespopulating a database record associated with a call with the twooriginating customers (step 602). At least one of the first and secondprocessors 3 and 5 may operate to populate the database record. Thefirst telecom network 2 may include a record database 13 (as seen inFIG. 1) for storage of the database record(s). Alternatively oradditionally, a record database (e.g., application store 304 a, userstore 304 b, etc.) may be located outside of a first telecom network(e.g., network 307 of FIG. 3). Once a database record is populated, thedatabase record may be utilized to generate and/or issue the firstbilling statements for the first originating customer, and the secondbilling statements for the second originating customer (step 604). Thefirst processor 3 of the first telecom network 2 may perform theutilization step. Afterwards, the first and second billing statementsmay be forwarded to the first originating customer (e.g., the secondtelecom network 6), and only (i.e., not the first billing statements)the second billing statements may be forwarded to the second originatingcustomer (e.g., customers 7 a, 7 b, 7 c of the second telecom network 6,etc.).

In order to outsource billing, sensitive information, such as, but notlimited to, customer names, addresses, phone numbers, billing rates,call duration, time of call, intended recipient, etc., may betransferred between the first and second networks 2 and 6. In order tolimit exposure of such information to authorized personnel, the billingsystem 1 may limit the type(s) of information viewable by employees ofthe first network 2, employees of the second network 6, employees of thefirst network 2 overseeing the outsourced billing system 1, etc. Forexample, as best seen in FIG. 6, a manager of the second network 6 mayonly see the information in fields 71 a and 71 b to make sure that therouting requests are sent to the first network 2 correctly. Employees ofthe first network 2 who do not oversee the outsourced billing may onlysee fields 72 a, 72 b, and/or 72 c to appropriately route any phonecalls where applicable for the requested period of time. Whereasemployees (e.g., of the first network 2) who do oversee the outsourcedbilling may see all CMS IDs, rates and minutes shown in fields 71 a, 71b, and 72 a-72 c, etc. to properly route calls, generate the first andsecond billing statements, forecast budgets/rates, etc.

The first and second billing statements that are generated (e.g.,billing statement 80 as shown in FIG. 7) may include various informationfields, such as, but not limited to, information fields 81, 82, 83,etc., which may be customized in numerous ways. At least one differentinformation field may be generated on the one or more first and secondbilling statements for the at least one same service. The at least onedifferent information field 81, 82, 83 may include: the charges; alanguage; a currency; a provider of the first and second telecomnetworks; a billing increment; contact information of the first andsecond telecom network providers; an invoice number; a call statistic; acall destination; a call origin; a call route; customer information; anda budget forecast. For example, the total charge for the network use ofall three customers 7 a, 7 b, and 7 c (e.g., 100 total minutes at $0.08U.S. per minute for network 6=$8.00 U.S.) of the second network 6 may bedisplayed in field 82 of an invoice 80 from the first telecom network 2to the second telecom network 6. However, each individual customer 7 a,7 b, and 7 c may receive three separate invoices 80 where the charge infield 82 reflects their individual network use (e.g., 20 minutes at$0.09 U.S. per minute for user 7 a; 30 minutes at $0.10 U.S. per minutefor user 7 b; and 50 minutes at $0.085 U.S. per minute for user 7 c) andpayment owed to the second telecom network 6. A customer's name may begenerated in field 81; the amount owed in a predetermined currency(e.g., Euro, U.S. dollar, U.K. pounds, etc.) may be listed in field 82;and the network providing the service(s) may be listed in field 83 ofthe billing statement or invoice. Billing increments may be configuredto be billed at any per second increment needed at the country level(e.g., depending on national and/or international rules/laws, contractagreements from a particular network, etc.). The first and secondinvoices or billing statements may be generated at any daily frequency,such as, but not limited to, every day, every three days, etc. Anylanguage that uses Latin/Roman characters (e.g., English, Spanish,German, French, etc.) may appear on the billing statements. Otherforeign languages may be included based on customer request. Time zonesmay be adjusted as well depending on the location of a customer,supplier, network, etc. The billing statements may include up totwenty-six time-of-day windows per day, one to seven day-of-weekwindows, or a combination of the two types of windows. The billingstatements may list call durations, including whether there are anyminimum or maximum call durations. Billing statements may be transmittedto the customers via any medium known to one skilled in the art,including, but not limited to, certified mail, electronic mail,facsimile, etc.; and may be accessible online (e.g., from the database13) as discussed below. The billing rates (e.g., rates by customer,rates by destinations, price amendments, etc.) for the second telecomnetwork 6 may be provided to the first telecom network 2 individually orby mass update (e.g., in an excel file upload of customer rates throughelectronic mail and transmitted via packets across the network, via webinterface, etc.)

Now referring to FIG. 8, once one or more billing statements aregenerated or issued, such statements may be stored in a server ordatabase (e.g., data warehouse/database 507 as shown in FIG. 5,processor/computer 3 and/or processor/computer 5 as shown in FIG. 1,database 13 of network 6 in FIG. 1, etc.), and accessible to acorresponding customer. For example, a customer listed in informationfield 95 may log into the database to access one or more invoices orbilling statements generated for the customer's account. Such accesspermits customers to conveniently and timely view historical and/orcurrent billing files. The invoice(s) may be listed in an invoice filefield 93. Additionally, one or more summary files may be generated for aparticular invoice, and may be listed in a summary file filed 92.

At specific intervals, or upon request, an administrator for thecustomer account or the billing system may generate (e.g., automaticallyor manually) a call detail record (also referred to as a “CDR”), and maylist a CDR in a CDR file field 91. To preserve privacy of userinformation, a customer may only view files that pertain to his or heraccount. For example, a customer of the first network 2 may not viewdocuments for a customer of the second network 6, and vice versa. TheCDRs and other database records may be used to quickly bill end users,verify invoices, and/or forecast budgets. The CDR files may be created:in a delimited, ASCII format; in a common compression format; in anagreed upon time interval; in a predetermined file size (e.g., toprevent large files from being produced in a backlog situation); with astandard file name (e.g., that includes a date stamp, that includes atime stamp and that includes other information); and with otherinformation. The CDR and other database files may be available for apredetermined time period and/or indefinitely. A user account (e.g., anonline/web access RapidCDR account) may be created per billingentity/customer with multiple individual logins being provided, whichfurther provides billing data separation/seclusion by customer entityfor privacy. Each individual customer of a particular network may obtainaccess to view the outsourced billing documents, and may download same.Each log-in attempt may be recorded. The login account may be separatefrom the login account containing first telecom network 2 to secondtelecom network 6 invoices and supporting documents for the sametraffic.

A computer-readable storage medium used commonly, such as, but notlimited to, a hard disk, a flash memory, a CD, a DRAM or the like, anoptional combination thereof, a server/database, etc. may be used tocause a processor, such as, but not limited to, processor 3 of firsttelecom network 2, processor 5 of the second telecom network 6, etc. toperform the steps of the methods disclosed herein.

In accordance with at least one aspect of the present invention, themethods, system, and computer-readable storage medium related to theprocessors 3 and 5 as described above may be achieved utilizing suitablehardware, such as that illustrated in the figures. Such hardware may beimplemented utilizing any of the known technologies, such as standarddigital circuitry, any of the known processors that are operable toexecute software and/or firmware programs, one or more programmabledigital devices or systems, such as programmable read only memories(PROMs), programmable array logic devices (PALs), etc. Furthermore,although the system illustrated in the figures is shown as having theprocessor 3 and 5 located within telecom networks 2 and 6, respectively,the processors 3 and 5 may be located outside of the networks 2 and 6,may be integrated with any component, such as the firewall 4, switches401 and 402, switches 406 and 407, switches 411 and 412, etc. Theprocessors 3 and 5 may also include and/or be made of one or moremicroprocessors. Still further, the various aspects of the invention maybe implemented by way of software and/or firmware program(s) that may bestored on suitable storage medium (e.g., computer-readable storagemedium, hard drive, etc.) or media (such as floppy disk(s), memorychip(s), etc.) for transportability and/or distribution.

Although the invention herein has been described with reference toparticular embodiments, it is to be understood that these embodimentsare merely illustrative of the principles and applications of thepresent invention. It is therefore to be understood that numerousmodifications may be made to the illustrative embodiments and that otherarrangements may be devised without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. (canceled)
 2. A system for processingtelecommunications billing outsourcing comprising a first processoroperating to: issue one or more first billing statements and one or moresecond billing statements; and transmit the one or more first billingstatements to a second telecom network; wherein the one or more firstbilling statements reflect one or more charges from a first telecomnetwork to the second telecom network; wherein the one or more secondbilling statements reflect one or more charges from the second telecomnetwork to one or more customers thereof; and wherein the first andsecond telecom networks are separated by at least one firewall.
 3. Thesystem of claim 2, wherein the at least one firewall comprises at leastone of: a gateway; a router; a network node that operates to interfacewith another network using one or more different protocols; one or moreswitches; a bridge; a proxy server; a packet filter; one or moreapplication layers; at least one Egress filter; at least one Ingressfilter; and one or more network address translators (“NATs”).
 4. Thesystem of claim 2, wherein the first telecom network includes the firstprocessor.
 5. The system of claim 2, wherein: the one or more charges ofthe one or more first billing statements reflect one or more servicesprovided by the first telecom network for the second telecom network;and the one or more charges of the one or more second billing statementsreflect one or more services provided by the second telecom network forthe one or more customers thereof.
 6. The system of claim 2, wherein:the one or more charges of the one or more first billing statementsreflect one or more services provided by the first telecom network forthe second telecom network; and the one or more charges of the one ormore second billing statements reflect one or more services provided bythe first telecom network on behalf of the second telecom network forthe one or more customers of the second telecom network.
 7. The systemof claim 6, wherein the one or more customers of the second telecomnetwork are connected directly to the first telecom network, wherein thesecond telecom network is bypassed.
 8. The system of claim 2 wherein theone or more first billing statements and the one or more second billingstatements are issued in response to one or more services provided in apredetermined interval of time.
 9. The system of claim 8 wherein thepredetermined interval of time corresponds to a billing cycle.
 10. Thesystem of claim 2, wherein the one or more first billing statements andthe one or more second billing statements reflect one or more chargesfor a same service, and wherein a value of at least one informationfield that is present in both the one or more first and second billingstatements, is different across the one or more first and second billingstatements.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least oneinformation field comprises at least one of: the one or more charges; alanguage; a currency; a provider of the first and second telecomnetworks; a billing increment; contact information of the first andsecond telecom network providers; an invoice number; a call statistic; acall destination; customer information; a call origin; a call route; anda budget forecast.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or morecharges reflected in the one or more first billing statements comprise avalue of the total charge for network use by more than one customer, andwherein the one or more charges reflected in the one or more secondbilling statements comprise individual values of individual charges thatconstitute the total charge, wherein the individual charges are for thenetwork use by the individual customers that constitute the more thanone customer.
 13. A method of outsourcing telecommunications billingcomprising: issuing, by a first processor, one or more first billingstatements and one or more second billing statements with a firsttelecom network; and transmitting, by the first processor, the one ormore first billing statements from the first telecom network to a secondtelecom network; wherein the one or more first billing statementsreflect one or more charges from the first telecom network to the secondtelecom network; wherein the one or more second billing statementsreflect one or more charges from the second telecom network to one ormore customers thereof; and wherein the first and second telecomnetworks are separated by at least one firewall.
 14. The method of claim13, further comprising: reflecting, by the first processor, one or moreservices provided by the first telecom network for the second telecomnetwork in the one or more charges of the one or more first billingstatements; and reflecting, by the first processor, one or more servicesprovided by the second telecom network for the one or more customersthereof in the one or more charges of the one or more second billingstatements.
 15. The method of claim 13, further comprising: reflecting,by the first processor, one or more services provided by the firsttelecom network for the second telecom network in the one or morecharges of the one or more first billing statements; and reflecting, bythe first processor, one or more services provided by the first telecomnetwork on behalf of the second telecom network for the one or morecustomers of the second telecom network, in the one or more charges ofthe one or more second billing statements.
 16. The method of claim 15,further comprising connecting, by the first telecom network, the one ormore customers of the second telecom network directly to the firsttelecom network, wherein the second telecom network is bypassed.
 17. Themethod of claim 13 wherein the one or more first billing statements andthe one or more second billing statements are issued in response to oneor more services provided in a predetermined interval of time.
 18. Themethod of claim 17 wherein the predetermined interval of timecorresponds to a billing cycle.
 19. The method of claim 13, wherein theone or more first billing statements and the one or more second billingstatements reflect one or more charges for a same service, and wherein avalue of at least one information field that is present in both the oneor more first and second billing statements, is different across the oneor more first and second billing statements.
 20. The method of claim 19,wherein the at least one information field comprises at least one of:the one or more charges; a language; a currency; a provider of the firstand second telecom networks; a billing increment; contact information ofthe first and second telecom network providers; an invoice number; acall statistic; a call destination; customer information; a call origin;a call route; and a budget forecast.
 21. The method of claim 20, whereinthe one or more charges reflected in the one or more first billingstatements comprise a value of the total charge for network use by morethan one customer, and wherein the one or more charges reflected in theone or more second billing statements comprise individual values ofindividual charges that constitute the total charge, wherein theindividual charges are for the network use by the individual customersthat constitute the more than one customer.
 22. A non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium containing software code operating tocause one or more of a plurality of processors to perform the steps,comprising: issuing one or more first billing statements and one or moresecond billing statements with a first telecom network; and transmittingthe one or more first billing statements from the first telecom networkto a second telecom network; wherein the one or more first billingstatements reflect one or more charges from the first telecom network tothe second telecom network; wherein the one or more second billingstatements reflect one or more charges from the second telecom networkto one or more customers thereof; and wherein the first and secondtelecom networks are separated by at least one firewall.